• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Why does finger style look so easy?

#21
Matthew Bryson said:
Why do some guys make playing with a pick look so easy? I've played bass with my fingers ever since I started playing. I have a very hard time playing with a pick and anything difficult that I play, I play with fingers.
Click to expand...


ditto

I've tried pick... prolly try it l8r 2nite.... just doesn't work for me.

Been playin finger style ever since I started w/ no prior stringed instrument experience... felt more natural as I did try both before settling in w/ finger-style. Now I play w/ 3 fingers! Just keep w/ the practicing and you should get it over time, thats how it happened for me.
 
#22
I've been playing bass for only about 9 months, but I pretty much mastered finger picking. I've yet to find a song where I have trouble playing with my fingers, unless it's some crazy 4 finger picking song. :/

My problem is the fretting hand, gah, help me! (Sorry for being off-topic but it could be awesome if someone posted some guide or anything that could help me get better. I have the strength to press the strings down and my hand can stretch quite well, but I just suck at shifting from note to note and from string to string fast and accurately enough ;/).

Btw, I'd love it if someone named a cool song that is really hard to play fingerstyle on bass, and post a tab for it. :p
 
#24
You can go through all the begining books just using fingerstyle, worked well for me. Pick is quite easy to pick up if you play it when you first start, then switch to fingerstyle about a month later. I did and it works for me very well.



As for the using 3 fingers thing, as I've gotten better with it I've used just my index finger for fingerstyle(I'm a big gamer and have deadly fast fingers.) and my middle for slapping and pooping. Even right now I only type with 5 fingers, ring middle and pointer on left and middle and pointer on right, it's all how you pick it up and learn it. It applies to just about anything, typing,bass playing,fretting, video games.
 
#26
BullHorn said:
I've been playing bass for only about 9 months, but I pretty much mastered finger picking. I've yet to find a song where I have trouble playing with my fingers, unless it's some crazy 4 finger picking song. :/

My problem is the fretting hand, gah, help me! (Sorry for being off-topic but it could be awesome if someone posted some guide or anything that could help me get better. I have the strength to press the strings down and my hand can stretch quite well, but I just suck at shifting from note to note and from string to string fast and accurately enough ;/).

Btw, I'd love it if someone named a cool song that is really hard to play fingerstyle on bass, and post a tab for it. :p
Click to expand...
Bullhorn! TS forums!
 
#29
BullHorn said:
wespe! TS forums!

That didn't answer my question. :p
Click to expand...

Ok, I don't have the tablature, but "Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin. Probably some of these guys (and you) would find this a joke, but during the chorus, JPJ is doing some 16th note stuff I find difficult. But I don't know how good your ear is, or the person who did the tablature...if you really play it note-for-note and you find it easy, let me know.
 
#31
What I'm talking about is where he's playing 16th notes that traverse 2 adjacent strings (D & G) and you have to be muting somehow - I don't see how you can use hammer-on's on this passage, but I'm no expert. That's what makes him so great, he's in 2 or 3 different octaves in the same beat.
 
#32
I'm sure you could play the "Ramble On" part if you figured it out and practiced it until you had it. Just because it's hard for you, or seems impossible, today, that doesn't mean John Paul Jones or [insert idol of your choice here] is "great" or a genius.

--> Old Curmudgeon Alert <--

It seems to me that on TalkBass (and in the larger society, perhaps) you have all these people looking for shortcuts and/or expecting things to come immediately. Sometimes it takes years of practice, learning and plain old trial & error experience to get to where you want to go.

Okay, I'll go back in my cave now...
 
#33
dougjwray said:
I'm sure you could play the "Ramble On" part if you figured it out and practiced it until you had it. Just because it's hard for you, or seems impossible, today, that doesn't mean John Paul Jones or [insert idol of your choice here] is "great" or a genius.

--> Old Curmudgeon Alert <--

It seems to me that on TalkBass (and in the larger society, perhaps) you have all these people looking for shortcuts and/or expecting things to come immediately. Sometimes it takes years of practice, learning and plain old trial & error experience to get to where you want to go.

Okay, I'll go back in my cave now...
Click to expand...

Ummmhmmmm - It's my opinion that if you are on stage and you look like you are struggling, you should get offa the stage. As an audience member, I paid to see skilled pros, not people who are only a little better then an average non-player who just figured out the most basic, essential part of a song and has difficulty delivering it... Whoa... that's harsh... ;)
 
#34
However, Jeff Beck once said, in an old, old Guitar Player interview, "Some people play things that are hard and make them look easy; I like to play things that are easy and make them look hard.":cool:
 
#35
dougjwray said:
However, Jeff Beck once said, in an old, old Guitar Player interview, "Some people play things that are hard and make them look easy; I like to play things that are easy and make them look hard.":cool:
Click to expand...

touche' - but there is a big difference between you making the part look hard and the part making you look like it's hard... - ya know what I mean? Mostly, it's in the clever placement of the word "you" in the last phrase - but the thought still carries.

Just like using slang, you need to be able to speak properly first, then you can color you speech with slang. If all you learn is slang, when the time comes to sound intelligent, you sound like M&M...
 
#36
I am not very experienced, but I recently had a pretty big improvement in finger playing. I was doing 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 (etc) drills with my index and ring finger to try to get the rhythm established and being rigid about it, like my fingers were marching to a metronome. It was hard and sometimes felt awkward. Then I thought I would just try just doing what felt natural; I had used the middle finger enough to get it "into the game". Now I find I am mostly using the index finger but when changing strings or playing fast I use the middle. It's almost like I have removed a level of thinking and instructions between my brain and the sound. And I am absolutely more relaxed. I have even started doing a little thumb slapping and it wasn't really something I planned. Weird...
 
#37
I think playing with finger style is extremely easier than playing witha pick and ive only beenplaying a year. For me I can feel out what I am doing and I dont get that same sensation when I am playing with a pick.
 
#39
When I have used a pick in the past, I always used a
large 3 sided heavy gauge plastic pick. On electric guitar
I would use a thin gauge though.

I do practice 12 string steel acoustic with the heavy pics,
and that keeps my pick work in shape.

In the 80's, my bands had an edgier sound, with a lot
of tic-tac or clackety clack string noise in the mix. On
notes I wasn't fretting, I would use the pick while touching
a harmonic. I would also sometimes use the pick to scrape
the string on purpose.

All tools in the toolbox.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back